The Five A's of Smoking Counseling

Brief advice to quit smoking
from a clinician increases cessation rates by 30%.

Assess their readiness to quit.

Assist them in quitting.

The goal is to educate
about the importance of quitting smoking.
You needn't provide all of the elements of
this counseling; that can be done
by referral to a cessation program.
Just get the process started.

Arrange follow-up care.

Of all the evidence-based guidelines in preventive healthcare,
this is perhaps the most important.

Management of Nicotine Addiction, Fact Sheet
US Department of Health and Human Services.
Reducing Tobacco Use: A Report of the Surgeon General.
Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion,
Office on Smoking and Health; 2000.